When Did The New Testament Begin?
Updated: May 29, 2021
The publishers of almost every Bible in print have confused us all by putting one page in the Bible that was not there when it was written. It’s the little white page that “separates the Testaments.” You know, the one right before the book of Matthew that has on it in bold lettering saying “The New Testament”.
Well, it just so happens that The Word of God actually tells a different story.
The word testament is synonymous with covenant in the scripture. The New Testament is not merely a collection of books. Rather it is what those books are describing.
What is the New Testament? It is a covenant that God made concerning us.
Hebrews 8:10-11 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
We now know that we as gentiles were also made a part of this covenant.
Ephesians 2:12-13 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. So we see that God made a New Covenant that is not like the old one. When did this take effect?
Jesus gives us the answer.
Mat 26:28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
The book of Hebrews clarifies about what the New Testament was for and how it began.
Hebrews 9:15-17 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.
We can see through the scripture that the New Testament does not actually begin at Jesus' birth, but it actually begins at his death.
Just so we are all clear: The New Covenant changed a lot about our dealings with God, and His dealings with us. I will cover those differences in another post.
For now, let's look at the main points the scripture gives for how the New Testament began when it did.
It was by means of death that Jesus brought redemption. Jesus had to die in order to buy us back from the Old Testament law that we had broken. He was a perfect sacrifice. He is our Savior.
You cannot receive the inheritance of someone who has not died. In today's world, even if your parents agreed to give you your inheritance, the lawyers would stop it dead in its tracks. Legalities define a last will and testament to only be allowed to be executed after someone has died. Heb. 9:17
The first Testament was dedicated in the blood of bulls and goats.
The New Testament (which is founded upon better promises Heb. 8:6) was made in the blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus superseded the Old Covenant and He was a better sacrifice than the ones the Old Covenant was made in. Heb 9:23 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.